ATF Racially Profiling Hispanic Gun Owners

Anyone who’s purchased a firearm in the United States in the past few months may have noticed a small change to form 4473, the Firearms Transaction Record required by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) prior to all gun purchases.

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Where previously the form asked a general question about the purchasers’ race (ethnicity), the section now requires Americans in the Hispanic community to designate themselves as such.

Curiously, the form’s[2] “Race” section has been divided into two parts. Section 10a, now labeled “Ethnicity,” requires you to check off whether you’re “Hispanic or Latino” or “Not Hispanic or Latino.” The new 4473 document’s 10b section no longer includes Hispanics or Latinos as a race.

Boasting a US population density of 16.3%, Hispanics, in general, encompass a large portion of the gun owning community. Given this fact, the change, that went into effect early July with little to no press or fanfare, has left many gun owners baffled as to why the ATF is singling out Hispanics.

Evan Nappen, General Counsel of Pro-Gun New Hampshire, reported on the alteration[3] as a blatant form of racism, asking, “What if the “ethnicity” question demanded “Jew or Not a Jew”? Would that “ethnicity” question be acceptable? Like the Hispanic/Latino question, it is offensive and not necessary. It has nothing whatsoever to do with one’s qualification to purchase a gun.”

Infowars’ Matt Williams asked a Houston ATF public relations spokesperson why the change had gone into effect and why it specifically targeted Hispanic and Latino Americans. The ATF told us the change had been implemented by White House order of the Obama Administration’s Office of Management and Budget and has been ordered across the board nationally to be carried with all federal agencies.

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Further investigation provided no answers as to why the minority group has been singled out, and no conclusive evidence shows that any other ATF form, or government agency for that matter, has adopted the protocol. Even the form licensing home manufacture of firearms/class 3 weapons[5] (i.e. machine guns, suppressors, etc.) does not include this stipulation. (see image to the right)

Despite the fact that the ATF was caught red-handed staging the gun-walking Fast and Furious operation – a staged provocation that led to the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans and at least one U.S. Border Patrol agent – to blame citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights, the Bureau continues to throw red herrings at the public in attempts to divert attention from the real source of Americans’ woes, an overreaching, increasingly tyrannical control-freak government.

Gun owners, specifically returning and retired veterans, tea party members, and anti-Fed activists, have come under intense scrutiny[6] following such incidences as the Aurora, Colorado massacre and Sikh temple shootings. These and other various attempts to demonize gun-owners, a constitutionally protected right, circumvent what the founding fathers saw as crucial for the liberty of a free nation.

Is the ATF attempting to single out Latino gun-owners for additional screening due to the cartel violence they themselves contributed to? Given that we’re in the middle of a government sponsored Hispanic Heritage Month[7], we feel the Hispanic community deserves some answers.